TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June, 2011
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell (at) ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Susquehanna Hat Company by Too Much Joy
Red Cobra #9 by The Mummies
Raw Meat by Black Lips
Midnight To Six Man by The Pretty Things
Hell Ain't What it Used to Be by Nashville Pussy
Sweet Talk by The Naughty Ones
Dog Food by Iggy Pop
Washing in the Blood (of Rock and Roll) by The Professor and His One Man Dirty Rhythm and Blues Explosion
Rollin' and Tumblin' by Canned Heat
Cause I Sez So by New York Dolls
Give Him A Great Big Kiss by The Shangri-Las

The Flame that Killed John Wayne by The Mekons
Run Away From Me by Movie Star Junkies
Born With a Tale by The Supersuckers
Cosmic Belly Dance by The Monsters
Shaggy Dog by Lightnin' Hopkins
My Baby Got Drunk by Paul "Wine" Jones
Nobdy Gets Me Down by T-Model Ford
Racoon City Limits by Black Smokers
Neat Neat Neat by The Hickoids

Merry Go Round/My Name Is Larry by Wild Man Fischer
Don't Shake Me Lucifer by Roky Erikson
I'm Weak by New Bomb Turks
Question My Sanity by L7
Motorhead with Me by Nobunny
Sinister Kid by Black Keys
Schrodinger's Puss by Crappy Dracula
Shave Your Beard by Ros Sereysothea

Standing on the Verge of Getting It On by Funkadelic
Stepchild by Solomon Burke
All You Can Eat and You Can Eat it All Night Long by Candye Kane
Land of Hope and Dreams by Bruce Springsteen
The Way We Were Wild Man Fischer with Mark Mothersbaugh
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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R.I.P Larry "Wild Man" Fischer

Wild Man Fischer is dead. He was 66. His name was Larry.

The mentally ill street musician "discovered" by Frank Zappa died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on Thursday.

His New York Times obituary is HERE.

The Los Angeles Times remembers him HERE.

Like other  musicians who have struggled with mental illness -- Roky Erikson, Daniel Johnston, Wesley Willis, Brian Wilson, Sid Barrett -- watching or listening to Wild Man Fischer made you uncomfortable. Are we laughing with him or at at him? Are we exploiting the poor guy? Are we feeding his demons when we laugh and cheer him on?

And yet who could be unaffected when, hearing him sing "My Name is Larry," by his recreation of conversations with his family, most of whom he portrayed as patronizing him, trying to ignore him, fearing him? And how can you not feel the raw spirit in his manic performance?

Below are a couple of videos by which to remember this troubled soul, as well as a trailer for the documentary dErailRoaDed.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 17, 2011
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell (at) ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Stop the Train by Mother Earth
You Only Kiss Me When You Say Goodbye by Cornell Hurd
Ruby Jane by Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
Let's Do Wrong Tonight by Simon Stokes & The Heathen Angels
Hootin'-Nanny Papa by The Buchanan Brothers & The Georgia Cats
The Gal Who Invented Kissin' by Hank Snow
Rocky Top by Rose Maddox
Yankee Taste by Jayke Orvis
Viva Sequin / Do Re Mi by Ry Cooder

The Ballad of Maria and Fred/ The New Jesse Davy by Guy Standard
Road Movie by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
Yes, Sir by The Great Recession Orchestra
Prince Nez by The Squirrel Nut Zippers
Me and Me Girl by The Pussywarmers
Pink Burrito by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
Pussy by Harry Roy & His Bat Club Boys
Glad It's Dark by Jimbo Mathus
Beatin' On The Bars by T.Tex Edwards & Out On Parole

London Zydeco by Mama Rosin & Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers
Still Believe by Sean K. Preston
Last Call at the Old Ponderosa by Paul Rhae McDonald
Kohrn Sirrup Sundae by The Imperial Rooster
Another Wreck on the Highway by Angry Johnny
I'm Gonna Take You Home And Make You Like Me by Robbie & Donna Fulks
Sittin' on Top of the World by Gal Holiday
Old Black Joe by Jerry Lee Lewis

Cat from the Rain by Gary Heffern with Carla Togerson
Bad News by Whitey Morgan
Facebook Page by John Egenes
Here We Are Again by Wanda Jackson
Time Out for the Blues by Levon Helm featuring Teresa Williams
Don't Forget Me, Love by Toni Brown
Big Black Dog by Emmylou Harris
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Zydockabilly, Exotica Obscura

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 17, 2011

Remember those stupid Reese’s Peanut Butters Cup commercials in which one dorky kid eating a jar of peanut butter while walking down the street bumps into another? “You got your peanut butter in my chocolate,” the first kid says. “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter,” the other responds.

Instead of being mauled by a pack of rabid dogs like they deserve, the two discover a great new taste sensation.

I don’t bring this up to indicate an association with or sponsorship by Reese’s — nor do I intended to disparage the company’s fine products. But when I first saw the new album Louisiana Sun by Mama Rosin and Hipbone Slim & the Knee Tremblers, I thought about that ad.

“Hey! You got your Swiss zydeco in my British neo-rockabilly.”

Indeed, Mama Rosin, named for a classic Cajun tune best known for the version by Zachary Richard, is a three-man group from Geneva that plays a hopped-up, rocked out version of Cajun and zydeco music.

Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers

Hipbone Slim, also known as “Sir Bald Diddley,” is a London rockabilly boy. What the two bands have in common, besides their history of appropriating their respective styles of American roots music to their own weird ends, is their affiliation with Voodoo Rhythm Records, which is always keen on subverting roots music just for kicks or thrills.

For the most part, it works. This album was recorded partly in England, partly in Italy, but its heart is in the American South.

There are several tracks that sound more “zydeco” (“Citi Two-Step,” “London Zydeco”) or more “rockabilly” (“Quel Espoir?,” “The Cat Never Sleeps”). My favorite ones are those in which both elements combine into something new and threatening.

Such is the case with the first song, “Voodoo Walking,” described on the album cover as “a classic Charles Sheffield number in a new dress.” Though it’s sung in French by Mama Rosin’s Cyril “Jeter” Yeterian, you can hear the influence of Louisiana R & B shouter Sheffield’s early ’60s regional hit “It’s Your Voodoo Working” as well as the main hook from Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning.” It’s noirishly swampy, with a spooky melodeon solo by Yeterian.

“Swamp Water” lives up to its name. Hipbone Slim handles the vocals here. There’s strong drumming by Rosin’s Xavier Bray on this percussion-heavy song, while Yeterian’s Cajun licks on the melodeon keeps it right in the bayou.

 “Killing Two Birds With One Stone” and “Gettin’ High” have a basic John Lee Hooker stomp-boogie sound, but with zydeco overtones. “Princess Havana” takes a Caribbean detour, while “Trouble Ain’t So Never Far Away,” sung by Hipbone, sounds like a tribute to New Orleans piano-dominated soul ballads.

And then there’s the title song, a re-working of The Rivieras’ “California Sun” (later covered by The Ramones), now a zydeco-drenched, banjo embellished pan-national anthem of summer fun.

I don’t want to get too corny here and babble about how music is the international language or some such hogwash. The main thing on this album is that it sounds like both bands had a lot of fun making it.

Also recommended:


* The Chronicles of the Pussywarmers. Last week, reviewing Jimbo Mathus’ new album, Confederate Buddha, I lamented the fact that there’s nothing on the album that sounds anything like the music of Jimbo’s best-known band, the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Just a couple of days after I wrote that, I received this new album by the Pussywarmers, a band led by singer-guitarist Fabio “Pozzo” Pozzorini, from the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.

The label touts the group as an “exotica obscura freak show varietease sea cruise orchestra” that plays Weimar Republic-era jazz (the musicians’ lives must be a cabaret, old chum). And it’s true, this band has a distinct Euro vibe.

But I hear a lot of the Zippers’ neo-vaudeville/Dixieland craziness in there, too. In fact the first song, “Me and Me Girl” a jazzy calypso romp, could almost be the sequel to the Zippers’ “Hell.” Further into the album “La nen la Bambele,” with its muted trumpet and bluesy melody sounds like some long-lost Cab Calloway song, kidnapped by Europeans.

Virtually every song here is a mysterious musical adventure. “Chanson d’amour (Ce n’est pas pour moi),” sung in French, reminds me of the music of the band’s Voodoo Rhythm labelmates The Dead Brothers, especially when the song changes into a waltz with a musical saw providing a ghostly response to the guitar and piano solos.

“La marcia dell’amor negato” could almost be a polka. And the near-five-minute “Broken Mirror,” featuring drumming straight out of Burnt Weeny Sandwich/Weasels Ripped My Flesh-era Frank Zappa, reminds me of psychedelic version of Brecht and Weill’s Three Penny Opera.


Two of the three photos used here were stolen from Brother Panti-Christ's Myspace page.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 12, 2011
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell (at) ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
It Should Be Me by Billy Childish & Musicians of The British Empire
Just Moved In by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Wine, Wine, Wine by The Classics 5
Throw That Girl Away by The Dwarves
It's Great by Wau & Los Arrrgs!!!
Modern Art by The Black Lips
FM Receiver by The Brimstones
Berlin by Dickey B. Hardy
Endsville Eddie by The Weird-ohs
Night of the Sadist by Larry & The Blue Notes
Davy, You Upset My Home by Joe Tex
The Ugly Side of the Face by Hang in the Box

Periodically Double or Triple by Yo la Tengo
Swamp Water by Mama Rosin & Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers
My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama by Frank Zappa
I Need Somebody by ? & The Mysterians
Your Love by The Reigning Sound
Pokin' Around by Mudhoney
Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Jerry Lee Lewis
Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill by The Bostweeds

American Triology by Unknown Elvis Impersonator
Sky Language by Prolly
Call the Doctor by Sleater-Kinney
I'm Alright by The Hipshakes
Mini-Skirt Blues by Simon Stokes & The Heathen Angels
Why Don't You Give It to Me? by Nathaniel Mayer
Stumblin' Man by TAD
Priscilla foi pra Toquio by Horror Deluxe

Buke E Kripe Ne Vater Tone/Kalaxhojne by by Three Mustaphas 3
Future Kings by Gogol Bordello
La Marcia Del Amor Negato by The Pussywarmers
Weiner Dog Polka by Polkacide
Please Warm My Weiner by Bo Carter
Bad Attitude by Lisa Germano
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 10, 2011 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell (at) ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Ophelia by Levon Helm
Shadow My Baby by Ray Condo and the Ricochets
Brain Cloudy Blues by Gal Holiday
Go-Go Truck by The Defibulators
Voodoo Walking by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers with Mama Rosin
Lonesome Side Of Town by Johnny Dilks And His Visitacion Valley Boys
Okie's in the Pokie by Jimmy Patton
Jimmie the Kid by Hank Snow
Crazy as a Junebug by Paula Rhae McDonald
Bad Blood by Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue by Scott H. Biram

I Like the Way by The Imperial Rooster
Some Happy Days by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Oh Honey Baby Doll by Bloodshot Bill
I'm Lonesome Without You by Hazeldine
I'm A Hobo by Danny Reeves
I Wanna Hot Dog For My Roll by Butterbeans & Susie

Leash My Pony by Jimbo Mathus
Loco by DM Bob & The Deficits
Meet Me in the Alleyway by Steve Earle
I Got Me a Woman by Andy Anderson
Laundrymats and C-Saws by Black-Eyed Vermillion
Streamlined Mama by Buddy Jones
It Won't Hurt When I Fall From This Barstool by The Sweetback Sisters
Lil Liza Jane by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Dancing Days by Bad Livers

Crazy Sons of Bitches by John Egenes
Across the Wire by Calexico
Joy by Joe Ely
I Found A Million Dollar Baby by The Boswell Sisters
Must Be Somethin' in the Water by Rachel Brooke
It Takes An Old Hen To Deliver The Goods by Cliff Carlisle
Tennessee Waltz by Sally Timms
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Southern Storytellers Jimbo & Levon

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 10, 2011

Jimbo Mathus covers a lot of Southern-music ground in his new solo album Confederate Buddha. With his band, The Tri-State Coalition, Mathus romps through blues, honky-tonk, and Allmanesque boogie. The influence of gospel music is apparent on some tracks, and there are even some Southwestern sounds in the Mexican-influenced ballad “Aces & Eights.”

There is just about everything but the neo-Dixieland/ vaudeville sounds of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, the band that launched Mathus’ career in the ’90s. As a SNZ fan, I would have liked some of that, but hey, it’s his album.

Most of my favorites here are the simple country and blues songs. “Leash My Pony” is a hearty blues, starting off with an acoustic guitar lick. The band is nice and loose.

“Town With No Shame,” a honky-tonk lament with a mournful steel guitar, sounds like something Ry Cooder would have pitched to The Rolling Stones. “Glad It’s Dark” shows the influence of Doug Sahm. It’s a country weeper, but instead of fiddles and steel, it features an electric organ.

Where Mathus excels is in the great tradition of Southern storytelling. “Jimmy the Kid” (not to be confused with the Jimmie Rodgers song of similar title) is an old-fashioned outlaw ballad — rock ’n’ roll style. Perhaps it’s an “autobiography” of ol’ Jimbo in a fanciful kind of way. “He went back East and he came out West/A .45 pistol strapped to his chest./Down in Texas he robbed the Alamo/The poor boy was stranded in a herd of buffalo.”

“Aces & Eights” is about the killing of Wild Bill Hickok by the coward Jack McCall, who inspires the wisdom, “There’s nothing worse than a desperate man who holds a grudge.” The title of the tune refers to the cards Hickok was holding when McCall shot and killed him — according to legend, a pair of aces and eights — which became known as the “dead man’s hand.”

One little puzzle:the Mexican music is historically inaccurate, as Hickok was killed in Dakota Territory (as Deadwood fans all know.) Maybe the mariachi touches were to give the song a Marty Robbins feel. Whatever the case, it works.

The final song, “Days of High Cotton,” reminds me of The Band’s “King Harvest (Has Surely Come).” It’s a sad tale of economic ruin coming to the South told by a narrator who has seen much better times.

The only trouble with this record is that sometimes the music drifts into a generic late-’70s Southern rock sound like you might hear on an old Dickey Betts solo album — a little overproduced, a little uninspired. I’m thinking of tracks like “Wheel Upon Wheel” and “Walks Beside.” These songs aren’t bad; they’re just not as ear-opening as the others.

Also recommended:

* Ramble at the Ryman by Levon Helm. Levon Helm is basically all we have left of The Band. Rick Danko is dead. Richard Manuel is long dead. Robbie Robertson hasn’t made music that sounds like The Band — or is nearly as good as The Band — in decades. I don’t know what Garth Hudson is doing.

So Helm is it, and dang if he still doesn’t make you smile when he opens his throat and sings songs like “Ophelia” and “Rag Mama Rag.” These songs and other Band classics are ancient and I’ve heard them a million times, but Helm and his current group showed at this 2008 show in Nashville that they still live and breathe.

No, Helm’s voice isn’t what it was way back when. He’s had struggles with throat cancer, and there were a few years when he couldn’t sing a note. So he’s helped out by a small army of guest stars including Buddy Miller, John Hiatt (who trades verses with Helm on “The Weight”), and Sheryl Crow, who sings the Emmylou Harris part on “Evangeline.”

Actually though, my favorite guest vocalists are the lesser-known ones. A guy called Little Sammy Davis sings a couple of songs, the best being a blues tune called “Fannie Mae.” Then there’s Teresa Williams, one of Helm’s background singers, who rages during her solo number “Time out for the Blues.”

Undoubtedly the prettiest song here is “Anna Lee,” a song from Helm’s 2007 album Dirt Farmer. Helm sings accompanied only by Larry Campbell on fiddle and his daughter Amy Helm and Williams singing harmonies.

My only complaint here is that Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell” isn’t included in this show. Helm and crew have been known to do the song in recent years, as evidenced by a handful of substandard audience videos on YouTube. (Pardon me. I already ranted about my love for this song a couple of weeks ago in this column.)

A film of Ramble at the Ryman was broadcast on PBS and has been released as a DVD.

Enjoy some videos, kids: